sexta-feira, 20 de julho de 2012

Picking up right where Endless Blockade left off, Column of Heaven released the more-than-impressive "Ecstatically Embracing All That We Habitually Suppress" demo in 2011, and has now returned with their highly anticipated debut 12”. While Endless Blockade hinted and flirted with the mix of noise/experimental music with power violence, this 12” sees those ideas taken to their endpoint, fully incorporating noise, dynamic samples, extra instrumentation, and experimental soundscapes into a metal-tinged power violence framework. Blasts of harsh noise and brutal hardcore mix with quieter, creepier atmospherics to make for an engaging and powerful listen from start to finish. This record fits nicely in line with the current crop of bands taking power violence in exciting new directions (Gas Chamber, Iron Lung, Hatred Surge, Suffering Luna, etc).

I've been into this release by Column Of Heaven since i knew it was out, and have been into it since then. Can't stop listening to it. The whole atmosphere is brutal. Whether you get blasts of powerviolence grind with cutting death metal riffs layered with blasts of harsh noise and really disturbing samples. What this band accomplishes here, to me, is something really and very exalted. It's not just killer riffs and insane drumming, it's beyond that.

"Mission From God" is a conceptual album influenced by “The Yorkshire Ripper”, from 1969 until his arrest in 1981, Peter William Sutcliffe attacked and murdered women in Yorkshire, England. Sutcliffe claimed God had told him to murder the women as he heard God's voice in his head. God sent him on a mission. The most brutal facts were yet to come and with them the consequences that would stretch throughout the years in that community.

The overwhelming majority of his victims were caught in the suffocating poverty that defined much of Yorkshire at the time. Many were involved in the sex trade. All were eventually united by Sutcliffe’s clear and extreme hatred of women which erupted as he bludgeoned, stabbed and beat his victims.

And that's precisely what i "see" as i hear "Mission From God". Thousands of images run through my head in a flash of seconds... the face of the victims, the clippings of the murders news taken from the newspapers at the time, Sutcliffe, the blood. Never an album made me feel like "Mission From God" did. Besides all of this conceptual background, the sound is perfect. We get these cutting death-metal riffs that reminds me older Napalm Death material and also the smashing brutality of Slaughter Strike, layered with harsh noises whose duty is to enhance this sonic experience to pierce deeper into our subconscious, while our brain is constantly hammered with brutal powerviolenced/grind drum beats.

But why would they write about a serial killer? Well, there are member(s) of this band that experienced life in the time and place of Sutcliffe’s activity. This work is intended to help purge oneself of the poison and unease that comes from growing up in Sutcliffe’s shadow, and to remind oneself of how that environment is inexorably part of our being. In a society that is absolutely saturated in violence, much of it directed towards women by men, it is easy to be unaffected by the truly horrific nature of Sutcliffe’s crimes. Years have passed since then, but the reality is that women violently lost their lives. Some survived attacks by Sutcliffe only to pass their remaining years tormented by trauma, fear and depression. Family members of victims took their own lives. The bureaucratic and police reaction was a disgusting farce: Sutcliffe was interviewed by police nine times and was ultimately caught only by complete accident. And this is curious, because in one of the tracks you can hear an interview with Sutcliffe where he states how he once failed to commit suicide, apparently his car got stuck in some rocks. How could a man, that deceived the police, failed on something like that? The police and powers that be simply didn’t care that someone was murdering poor women. It’s a reprehensible reality that sadly continues today all over the world. It’s a cold, terrible place and will likely always be so.

What is the Mission of God? To heal or to kill? There will be always wolves among the lambs of God. A mandatory album based on true experiences. Highly Recommended.

To feel this experience as a whole i also strongly recommend you to also get the "Soldiers Field" EP featured on the Survivalist Deathcult Bandcamp. Both releases are on "name your price" mode, so feel free to support if you want. For the real collectors, you can buy "Mission From God" on vinyl here. Thanks to Survivalist Deathcult for sharing this awesome and unique album and also the whole concept behind it, from where i took some of the paragraphs above.

quinta-feira, 19 de julho de 2012

First of all, i must start this post by apologizing to you all for the lack of posts lately. I'm on a constant daily struggle to keep what's left of my little sanity as i try to coordinate several projects at the same time at work, with 100F temperature, no air conditioner, etc, etc, etc. I also have a ton of requests in line for my inbox, so i thank you all who took time to drop some lines, i can assure you that i will get there in time. Besides that, it's been already one year that Forever Cursed is ruining your lives, sucking up what's left of your precious social life (like you ever had one...). After a year i finally hit 100 official followers on Blogger (i know there are many of you anonymously out there) but I'm glad to see that number come up. With that said my big airhead realized it's been a year, a fucking year, with lots of great music, new artists, new albums and some disappointments as well... but let's keep those on the outside.

Forever Cursed exists for this personal escape of mine, a place where i want to share what i like when it comes to music, what i find new and i really think you guys should hear, thinking that you will probably enjoy it. I make a stupid smile on my face every time a receive an email from an avid follower, thanking me or even from the least expected... members of some of the bands i post here, and i mean from some very known bands, which i find awesome as if I'm blessed from the Gods themselves. It might sound silly i know but man... it's so cool. I must not also forget my blog friends that i've made along this path, specially thanking to Mr JGD from the amazing The Living Doorway which is the blasphemous portal that induces most of the traffic i get here on Forever Cursed. And of course all of my fellow brothers in arms that once in a while give to my humble blog, a shout-out or mention my virtual person, Equivoke, Blackened Slugs, Annihilate Next Week, Perception Through Dissonance, Elementary Revolt, Slays For Days, Von Frost, etc. And i must not forget the ones who have fall in the past but have not been forgotten, I'm talking about zito's Midnight Mass and JT from Coffinpsalms.

To you all i thank you because somehow you ended up influencing what i have created here.

And now in order to complete this ritual i bring you something that has influenced me. "Häxan" a 1922 classic Swedish/Danish silent horror film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen. Based partly on Christensen's study of the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th-century German guide for inquisitors, "Häxan" is a study of how superstition and the misunderstanding of diseases and mental illness could lead to the hysteria of the witch-hunts. The film was made as a documentary but contains dramatized sequences that are comparable to horror films.

Some of you might have already seen it, and some of you probably still didn't got the chance. If you already seen it, now it's the perfect time to remember this classic. It was the perfect way i found to say "Thank you" to you all. Let's what lies ahead. One day at a time. Forever Grateful. Forever Cursed.

sexta-feira, 13 de julho de 2012

Depravation are a metallic hardcore band from Germany and they have just released their first Demo entitled "I​:​PRAEDICTVM". Introducing two bestial tracks of the most furious metallic hardcore and an instrumental track, "Praedictvm", which is served almost as an outro. Back on the first two tracks, the opening track, "Wrath", really makes justice to it's name. What starts with some killer black metal riffs soon morphs into this metallic hardcore beast that reminds me allot like acts from the past like Morning Again, Disembodied, Arkangel, that breed of bands... what turns out to be a good thing, at least for me. Seeing that, intentionally or not, Depravation are reviving this kind of sound into nowadays, is really good. It brings out that nostalgia from the past when i used to hear a lot of bands like the ones i've just quoted. So far so good. "Ruins Of Mankind" another moshing track where the band spills all their hate upon mankind, filled with some killer riffage and some poisonous vocal work. After all of this hate essay, the Demo is closed with is just an ambient/atmospheric track where we get some sort of a celestial peace lying above the ashes caused by all of that war on the first two tracks. A good Demo that really deserved some more tracks. Let us wait and see what the band will come up with in the near future. Released and limited to 50 copies, the Demo tape (25 white / 25 black ; each with different covers; handnumbered with human blood) is being released in CD (with a very cool packaging) you can be proud to own by buying it here. Check the Demo here and for more infos, livedates and stuff visit their facebook page. Shred!

segunda-feira, 9 de julho de 2012

Seattle's Drawn And Quartered put another milestone on their career, 5 years after their last full-length "Merciless Hammer of Lucifer" that wasn't so well received by many fans. This time they bring "Feeding Hell's Furnace", delivering 9 tracks of some of the best made old school death metal. Recorded and mixed at the Autopsy room, with Jesse O’Donnell. With a monolithic tone, devastating drum performance, utterly crushing bass and vocal tracks, thunderous riffs and frenetic guitar leads this is definitely a move in the right direction for the band. After locking themselves for two years in the rehearsal studio with a metronome, the band is back stronger than ever. The songs span several years in development as the band finds a new a haunting new sound as a stripped down three piece. The album is chocked full of epic moments, infectious breaks and twisted guitar solos. Need to say more? The album is out now, grab it here.

Dingy, gritty sounds that creeps, lurks, builds, elongates, teases, and piledrives you in the face with switchblade beats and apocalyptic crescendos. No wonder that they have supported Ulver, Shining, and d.USK among others. Over the course of the nine tracks on "The Colonial Script", you can expect to hear grainy, doomy ambience, whirlpools of 23hz low-end scuzz, acidburn waspsynth buzz, thudding and juddering feedback-ridden roars, distorted nihilistic yelps, doomscaping visceral breaks, buzzsawing smackstrung loops, all seamlessly weaved together in a brutal but beautiful tapestry. This duo consists of AJ Cookson and Matthew Rozeik, that somehow managed to merge the disparate worlds of black and doom metal and hard-edged electronic/ambient music have put together another brilliant combination of the two, sounding like no one else in the process, in the best possible way.

I must confess i'm not the biggest fan on the use of digital/electronic devices on metal, like digital drumming, keyboards, etc. I usually have a tendency to look away and escape from those kinda bands/albums. I just like things simple and fully live by the formula (G+B+D) = guitar(s), bass, drums. The use of electronics on metal?? The first thing that comes into my mind is nu (yuck) metal.

Except..

Except... if their aim is only to enhance and create the most darkened atmosphere you'll ever face. That's precisely what happened as i heard this album, Necro Deathmort's "The Colonial Script". I was almost preparing to skip this album as the first digital beats spread all over the opening track "Imperial", but something made me hold in order to hear more of it. The reward came immediately near the end of the track, and on the following track "Led to the Water". Heavy, crushing riffs opened their way through a winding path and draw some mysterious space forms that lurked in this spacial horror. While listening to this, as i look to the artwork of the cover, instead of skulls, demons or other esoteric/occult imagery i get an astronaut. And immediately my imagination goes beyond this earth and into the most obscure corners of the Galaxy. And as a game nerd, it clicked: "Dead Space... this is the fucking perfect Dead Space soundtrack!". Game nerds will feel me on this one here.

The core of this album is somewhere between dark electronic ambient stretching it to a most aggressive metal territory, filled with pummeling digital drum beats, crushing guitar distortion and very neurotic screaming vocals as heard on "Led to the Water", "Arrows", "Theme From Escape" and "Insecto!". For me the best tracks are indeed the heavy ones where guitar prevails, but on the other hand i also dig that dark and sinister electronic atmospheric tracks. No matter the path, the result is the same: Darkness. So, if you're seeking something different, stretch out your mind and get into this dark horrific sci-fi soundtrack brought by this interesting duo. It has became my late addiction while working late at night, just with a very dim light on the desk. The CD is available here and it's meant to be played at maximum volume.

quarta-feira, 4 de julho de 2012

Fucking Torchrunner... bringing one of the most devastating albums of the year. "Committed To The Ground" is the band new full length that will fuck up everyone and everything. Really. Everytime i hear this album i'm automatically possessed with an unexplainable urge to destroy and spread anarchy.

Delivering 12 tracks in about 22 minutes, you won't even realize what hit you. Bringing an incendiary blend of grind, crust, hardcore Torchrunner's formula to chaos is on "Committed To The Ground" is absolutely devastating. Following these guys since day one, i knew that they were on to something and what they accomplished here is really impressive.

Grab some Converge and some Trap Them and then add some Napalm Death, blend it well... after that, double the dose. You won't get one second of rest after getting on this one, even the slow, sludgiest tracks like "Canon Cast", "Committed to the Ground" or "The Holy Are The Broken", that invoke the ghost of my deceased and beloved Cursed, will crush you deep into the ground in the middle of this whole this frenzy wave of destruction that is "Committed To The Ground". I'm more than excited about this album, it quickly became one of my favorites for the year and we will see it on very "Best Of 2012" lists for sure, i know that it will be in mine... without a shadow of doubt. Fucking Torcherunner... All i see on this is chaos, screams, pure fucking destruction, with this release these guys are way ahead of the rest of the pack. Along with YAITW, Torchrunner have got to be one of the most powerful bands in the dark/crust/hardcore/whatever-you -wanna-call-it scene.

Don't listen to this, it will fuck up your life. I believe it will be released on vinyl (with a digital code) soon. Stay sharp here. Highly Recommended!

I really think this blog needs more death metal... feeling inspired by the latest Father Befouled post, i leave now with another good gem for the year. The debut album for the greek band Resurgency, who delivers a good slab of well made old school death metal. Above all this release is brutal. And the production of it just stenches "old school" in every of it's rotten skin pores. Right now i'm too busy doing some freelance so i'll leave you with a fine description of this great album here at the Haxan's den, so you can get an idea of what to expect here.

"This 4-piece Greek act RESURGENCY plays Death Metal the right way, combining an unmatched brutality of bands like DEICIDE and TORTURE KILLER with "Leprosy" era DEATH - and that way managing to drop a few pairs of jaws completely wide open by sheer amazement on the band's 10-track debut full-length studio album, titled "False Enlightenment". Carrying lots of high-velocity energy and brutality capacities like these Greek lads have managed to get for their songs on "False Enlightenment", there's no way a serious Death Metal consumer would leave this record completely untouched. RESURGENCY have it all, to pave the way for a new coming of Greek Death Metal, which is about to get unleashed by a vicious, vast storm if this record is something to go by. "False Enlightenment" is about fast tempos, great riffing, a genuine vision of having the right components sticking to each other seamlessly - and first and foremost, about understanding some basic facts how make some truly entertaining, kick-ass (old school) Death Metal without any compromises. That's what you are about to get on "False Enlightenment""

source: www.voicesfromthedarkside.de

Enjoy it, but most of all, support it. Buy it directly from the band: resurgencyband2@gmail.comor contact themhere.

Oh the joy... today is another great day for death metal. Presenting "Revulsion Of Seraphic Grace", the devastating third album of Father Befouled.

" We feel it is much stronger musically than its predecessor, which itself was a step into a more mature era of the band. We took everything we did on Morbid Destitution of Covenant and made it darker and heavier. We delved deeper into the suffocating atmosphere we long to create. With Revulsion of Seraphic Grace we feel we have crafted the penultimate statement of the band, and a worthy entry into the death metal canon. ”

So says Father Befouled vocalist/guitarist Justin Stubbs. And yes Justin, you guys have created the most spectacular and disturbing hymns to death. Keeping the same sick spirit as heard on "Morbid Destitution of Covenant", "Revulsion Of Seraphic Grace" continues that dismal path revealing seven suffocating, sepulchral hymns glorifying the fall of man and the blasphemy of the holy word. Rejoice and feed on the putrid carcass of Jesus. A mandatory album for every death metal fan. Available in wax or cd, buy it here. Highly Recommended!

terça-feira, 3 de julho de 2012

Born in the concrete jungle of Santa Ana, Mare Cognitum is a black metal band consisting of one member, Jacob Buczarski. This project began as an attempt to carve out it's own territory in the wider scope of black metal - a movement often viewed as a clouded sea of imitation and duplicity.

"An Extraconscious Lucidit" is the amazing second album brought by this amazing band. Inspired by a celestial and cosmic dark scenarios, Mare Cognitum delivers an awesome example of cosmic inspired black metal, formed by a constellation of tracks forged within the power of the eternal fight between light and darkness. And knowing that all of this celestial maelstrom is brought by only one entity is hard to believe, Jacob Buczarski, the man behind Mare Cognitum proves his knowledges again with this second release by shows us his amazing musical skills.

We are immediately overwhelmed by the opening track, "Collapse Into Essence" that serves an built-in intro until it unveils within unleashing a mystical void of atmospheric black metal with some very beautiful melodic passages. The production involving "An Extraconscious Lucidit" sounds really good, and enhances all the instruments perfectly adding some depths to Buczarski voice, giving it a more cold and soulless personification. I must also admit that the guitar work on this album is superb, it has layers and layers of sharpening riffs, solos, that tangled with those ambient sections, very à la Wolves In The Throne Room, it ends up creating an atmosphere that really captures with success the cold and dark atmosphere Mare Cognitum wants to transmit to us. An amazing album you must discover.

segunda-feira, 2 de julho de 2012

Chrome Waves is a post black metal supergroup formed by Stavros Giannopoulos (The Atlas Moth, Twilight), Jeff Wilson (Nachtmystium, Wolvhammer) and Bob Fouts (The Gates of Slumber, Apostles of Solitude)

"At its core, Chrome Waves are black metal, that’s not up for debate, but the sheer melody and almost post rock arrangements has given the band a whole new depth. The ethereal artwork certainly portrays the serene and atmospheric side of Chrome Waves while Stavros Giannopolous’s searing shriek is totally at odds with it and the dichotomy conjured as a result of that is what keeps this short 28 minute effort interesting from start to finish.

“Hearts over Feathers” lays out a tranquil introduction to this record that gives way to the caustic sounds of “Height of the Rifles” as it trounces through vicious verses of both unrelenting drums and gripping guitar flourishes swanning overhead. Beginning with slower mid tempo BM melancholia, the song scales and scales to a jaw dropping and beautifully melodious crescendo as Giannopolous agonisingly screams over the sprawling aural vista created. The track really captures all of Chrome Waves’ strengths perfectly as the black metal that formed their musical journeys blossoms into a being almost of a different life force.

This is only an EP and one is left feeling that this is a band with a lot more to say and do, an itch that can only really be scratched by the release of an album. But for now, Chrome Waves have released a staggering first effort with ideas bursting the seams. This is some of the finest melodic black metal you’ll hear this year with crushing classic black metal moments that nod to the more orthodox way of thinking while vibrant amounts of ethereal melody also rear their heads plenty of times like the slickly executed “That Cursed Armored Train”. Then concluding with the imposing “Blackbird” instrumental moving between spectral acoustic layers and dizzying lead guitars, Chrome Waves’ EP, again, feels criminally short but leaves with an invigorating salvo of perhaps more around the corner soon."

source: Cvlt Nation

Chrome Waves really got all eyes on them, due to the fact of being a "supergroup" but the truth is that they are not really bringing anything new into the post black metal scene, it's their approach that makes this release quite interesting, making this release above the average line of what has been released this year when it comes to this genre. Dip yourself into this trip and let the waves drag you far away. The vinyl is already sold out but you still can grab this here.

Rawish and woeful, Gaunt comes forth with no ado about anything. With their ascension, there are no trumpets being sounded, no parade, no build-up. They literally emerge out of darkness as they surface victorious. Presenting 3 grim and bestial tracks of hypnotic black metal from the South East of England filled with twisted waves of repetition with underlying melody. Absolutely brilliant. Only 100 copies made, almost gone. Email eyeheartdoom@yahoo.co.uk for copies and trades. For more info go here. A big thanks to SVN OKKLT from bringing this dark gem into the tenuous light of day.

Note: Some of the words above were taken from the Halifaxcollect blog where you can also read a small interview with one of Gaunt's members, i'm too lazy for being inspired today.

You like Nasum? Rotten Sound? And other acts that fit in the same profile? Then i present Dr Doom, delivering true grindcore from the Netherlands. Dr Doom features current and ex-members of Aborted, Atrocity, Dodechahedron and Herder.

The music on this album is in a perpetual state of explosion; every note is another package of C4 going off on your doorstep, and it is package full of surprises, but no happy birthday here! The riffs are fast, crusty, very diverse and occasionally technical, but always filled with a bestial ferocity. Drums echo the riffs astoundingly, with an incredibly human and frantic performance on the kit giving even more life to the music and animating even the most calm sections. The greatest departure from the established Nasum style is in the vocals: here the music is accompanied by aggressive unhinged screaming, where every word feels like it takes five lungfuls of air to be voiced. Just when one brief track has completely used its musical ideas up, the band shotguns into the next, never leaving the listener space to breathe or comprehend what happened until the disc has finally finished... and leaves you gasping for air...

If you enjoy razor sharp grindcore with a hint of crust/hardcore, this should be the next item you add to your collection. Dr Doom is alarmingly good at this style of music, and it’s rare to see a band in this style never lose step even for a moment in their race towards self-destruction and chaos. Buy it here.

domingo, 1 de julho de 2012

The killer second album of this Finnish horde that marks their return with an excellent production of this band that plays a crushingly heavy type of death metal with doom hints and a dark, cryptic & eerie atmosphere inspired by bands like Abhorrence, Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, Rippikoulu, Incantation, Rottrevore... and in general getting inspiration from 90's Death Metal bringing that cryptic stench back into the XXI century. Listening to this really makes me travel back in time as "The Doom Skeptron" keeps on proving respect to Desecresy's roots. Heavy as hell. Buy here.